Athletics PNG

Trukai will support the athletes training in Goroka with a monthly rice donation up to July 2019.

 APNG Secretary Philip Rehder said currently a dozen of the national team members reside at NSI undergoing training for next year’s Games, and the number will gradually increase.

Athletics PNG welcomes such assistance.

Apart from the recent Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast, the Melanesian Championship in May which will be attended by a small group of up and coming athletes.

PNG is also likely to be represented at the World Junior Championships in July and the Olympic Youth Athletics Games in October.

Attention is now being turned towards planning for the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa with APNG President Tony Green saying that the PNG Olympic Committee Workshop in March was timely in terms of preparations.

This means there will be a cut to overseas trips and contingent for international tournaments and competitions.

Attention is now being turned towards planning for the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa.

Apart from the Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast in April which will feature eleven PNG athletes, Team PNG will send a similar contingent for the Melanesian Championship in May and a Two  member team for the World Junior Championships in July and the Olympic Youth Games in October.

The team of 18 male and 16 female athletes will be supported by the same team management which accompanied the team to Suva in June this year for the Oceania Championships, with the addition of Port Moresby based, Nabase Duaba as Assistant Manager.

PNG will be aiming to maintain its status as the number one team in athletics at the Pacific Games.

The men’s squad:

Under the MOU, the parties will work together to develop the content knowledge and best practiced skills of the sport of athletics to the next level, targeting Physical Education teachers, coaches, trainers and athletes.

PNG Sports Foundation Director of Major Events and Marketing, John Susuve was on hand to sign the MOU on behalf of the Executive Director, along with APNG President Tony Green.

Talks are underway for APNG to provide the course materials for the Human Movement Studies branch of the NSI to make a submission to the University of Goroka for teaching.

This follows the announcement from the PNG Olympic Committee Justification Committee on the athletes of the sports that have been endorsed to represent Team PNG.

President of Athletics PNG, Tony Green, said with the National Championships coming up in Goroka September 28-30, it is important for athletes to realise that some places in the team are yet to be filled and many athletes have been only provisionally endorsed subject to proving their current form.

Boram travelled to Roswell, New Mexico earlier this month to take up a full-time scholarship at the New Mexico Military Institute.

Boram completed her grade 10 education at New Hanover High School in 2012 before going on to complete Grade 12 at Namatanai Secondary in 2014.

She first came to the attention of Athletics PNG at the 2013 National Championships, in Kokopo, where she won the U18 800m in a time of 2 minutes and 29 seconds.

The team of 24 male and 12 athletes is a very strong all-round team which will cover all disciplines of hurdles, long distance, jumps and throws in the open division as well as the traditionally strong PNG sprint and middle distance squad.

In addition to the open athletes, the team includes four junior girls and five junior boys.

The athletes will be taking part in some much needed competition on the only useable synthetic track in the country- Sir John Guise Stadium.

The usual Port Moresby competition will be held on Saturday afternoon starting at 1pm.

Whilst, Sundays programme will only be for the Open and U20 male sprinters, with just the 100m and 400m events.

Damien Kotou, the second athlete from Manus Province to represent PNG in athletics since Lyn Pokou at the 1995 South Pacific Games has attracted the attention of Athletics PNG.

David Guka who attended the Athletics PNG training camp in Goroka in January has shown a big improvement since moving up to the longer sprints, recording 50.7 seconds clocked in the 400m after running an 800m race earlier.

New Irelander Morgan Tobeno has also shown significant improvement this year.

Nineteen-year-old Roland Hure has been impressive in the long jump in the two competitions held so far.

Nelson Stone is also preparing for the Oceania Championships and has started running 100m and 200m races to gauge his progress.